Lawson rallies for 27th place

Saturday

Dec 14, 2013 at 8:32 PMDec 14, 2013 at 8:32 PM

The Leader staff

SAN DIEGO – Jessica Lawson, who ran her way to state and federation cross country titles this year, officially closed out her season with a 27th place finish at the Foot Locker National Championships at Morley Field.

Running for the Northeast Region, Lawson rallied from next-to-last place midway through the event and completed the two-lap 5K distance in 18:17.7.

"I’m happy with the way I responded, I would have liked to be top 20, but it’s very hard to have a strategy for a race like this," Lawson said. "Everyone here is so elite, I’ve accepted it and I’m happy to have gotten 27th."

The Northeast dominated the event, as it not only went 1-2, but also had runners finish fourth and sixth, overall. Waverly, Pennsylvania’s Tessa Barrett won the race with a time of 17:15.4, nearly 10 seconds better than Westport, Connecticut’s Hannah DeBalsi (17:25.3).

Lawson, who said she has battled slow starts in the past, looked to change things up and turned on the jets early to hit the half-mile in about 15th place.

"Usually, I haven’t gotten out fast," Lawson said. "I was right up in top pack 600 meters in. I’ve never gotten out that fast before."

According to Jessica’s father and Corning Hawks cross country coach Ray Lawson, her reaction to her fast start may have disrupted her game plan.

"When she saw her splits, she may have thought she was going too fast," Ray Lawson said. "She began to fall back until she was in about 38th place a mile-and-a-half into the race.

"I think at the half mile, she was faster than her previous PR for 800 meters. I think the more fast times she gets on the track during indoor and outdoor track seasons, the more she’ll be prepared for that."

But Jessica persevered.

"The last half of the race, I tried to keep motivated," she said. "I kept picking girls off. I tried to pass as many as I could."

According to Ray Lawson, it took some time to digest her finish, but in the end, everyone was happy with it.

"Sure, you hope for a little higher finish. But not being her before, it’s hard to come up with a reasonable goal," Ray Lawson said. "It wasn’t her best race and she was a bit frustrated with her finish, but this was a great opportunity for her. Now she’s happy with it.

"Now she sees what a great honor it was to be here. She’s seen how good the girls are and it will give her something to work on. She wants to keep improving."

"It was such a different race than I’ve run before," Jessica said. "I’m going to treat it like a learning experience."

Jessica and her family will return home today. But before they board the plane, Lawson and her Northeast teammates will enjoy some more fun in the San Diego sun – including some ice skating, of all things.

Among some other experiences Jessica will leave with, was some one-on-one time with local running legend and Olympic runner Molly Huddle – who was one of several elite runners who shared their experiences with the athletes on Friday.

"It was such an amazing experience," Jessica said. "It was amazing to hear them talk about their experiences. I told Molly I was from Corning, near where she lived.

"She holds all of the records for all of the courses I run."

Once home, Lawson will kick off her winter sports season, prepping for indoor track.

"I’m just so happy to have all of these accomplishments and honors," Jessica said of her cross country season. "Hopefully, it will translate well to indoor and outdoor track."

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